The Wrong Lesson from the Bob McDonnell campaign: Don’t be a Conservative

In case conservatives have missed it, our betters running the Republican Party think they’ve figured out the way to a Republican resurgence. They want to hide conservatives in an attic somewhere (surprise, surprise).

Even National Review (!) has gotten into this act, advising Republicans that the way to win is to learn from Virginia’s Bob McDonnell, currently favored in the race for governor. McDonnell, the magazine notes favorably, has “run a decidedly nonideological campaign, tailoring his message to attract suburban moderates…” He is “softpedaling” his conservative beliefs. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_17_61/ai_n35649638/)

Did anyone ever expect to see National Review publishing an article that advises: conservatives to run “nonideological” campaigns? (The very next article in that issue is titled “Blame Milton Friedman” and defends National Review’s endorsement of the TARP bailout last year. This is not William F. Buckley’s magazine anymore.)

Bob McDonnell should win in Virginia (I hope he does), but it will not be because he is pretending not to be a conservative. Yet the National Review piece: comes on the heels of what should be an even more infamous artice in Politico where top GOP strategists blame “angry” conservatives, such as the Tea Partiers and Glenn Beck and Rush, for undermining the party’s chances. Yep, that’s right. It’s all the conservatives’ fault.

I’m all for welcoming anyone who wants to support the party on board, but not by hiding the things we believe in.: That’s how the Republicans got into this trouble in the first place.

Learn more about how conservatives lost their way in my new book, SPEECH*LESS: Tales of a White House Survivor, praised by Ann Coulter, Stephen Hayes, Jed Babbin, Tucker Carlson, Christopher Buckley, and many others.: Available on Amazon.